Sonny Gray Goes Five In Yankee Win; Paul Goldschmidt, Zack Greinke Lead Diamondbacks

Players of the Day for Monday, March 26, 2018

Gray: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 7K

Grapefruit League

Lest season, the Yankees acquired Sonny Gray from the Oakland A's just prior to the trade deadline, thinking he would fill out the starting rotation and help the Yanks make the playoffs.

New York did reach the playoffs, but not because of Gray, who earned a decision in each of his 11 starts down the stretch, going 4-7 with a 3.72 ERA. Gray was signed to a full contract and will be in the starting rotation, as he's settled down into a nice groove this Spring, winning two games without a loss, including Monday's 5-1 victory over the Braves.

Gray tossed five innings, allowing three hits and one earned run. He struck out seven and did not surrender any walks, lowering his ERA to a very respectable 1.98 over 13 2/3 innings.

Greinke: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER

Gray never trailed, as Didi Gregorius and Giancarlo Stanton each belted two-run homers. Gregorius launched his in the first inning; Stanton hit his third HR of the preseason in the third.

Cactus League

Goldschmidt: 3-4, HR, 2 RBI

Paul Goldschmidt singled, doubled and homered in four at-bats and Zack Greinke allowed one lonely hit over six innings as the Arizona Diamondbacks dumped the Cleveland Indians, 7-0.

Greinke set down the first ten batters he faced before giving up a one-out, fourth-inning single to Rajai Davis, the only hit Cleveland would produce all day. Grienke fanned four, didn't walk a batter and improved to 2-1 for Spring, with a 1.04 ERA.

Last season, Greinke and Goldschmidt led Arizona to the playoffs as a wild card. Greinke was 17-7 with an ERA of 3.20. Goldschmidt batted .297 with 36 home runs and 120 RBI.

The Diamondbacks evened their record at 15-15, trailing Milwaukee by for games with one game left to play before the regular season begins Thursday.

Sonny Gray's 6 Innings Of Shutout Ball Lead A's Over Indians; Gio Gonzalez, Bryce Harper Lead Nats Past Reds

Players of the Day for Friday, July 14, 2017

American League

Friday saw the the major leagues finally back in action after the extended, four-day, all-star break and the activity was much the same as prior to the mid-summer classic.

Sonny Gray: 6 scoreless

All but one of the six division leaders were winners on the day, the except being the Cleveland Indians, who were stopped cold in Oakland by A's starter, Sonny Gray who improved to 5-4 in a 5-0 whitewash.

Gray did not go the distance, throwing exactly 100 pitches over six full innings of work. The 27-year-old right-hander issued one walk in the opening inning, and only got into a little trouble in the third, when he allowed the only two hits - both singles - the Indians would get off him.

With the score already 4-0 in favor of the A's, Gray took a seat and turned the ball over to the bullpen. Ryan Madsen, Sean Dolittle, and Santiago Casilla each tossed an inning in relief, allowing just two hits over the final three innings, fanning six while not allowing any walks.

The A's stand at 40-50, well out of the runaway race in the AL West. Cleveland remained in first place in the Central, 2 1/2 to the good over Minnesota, 10-5 losers at Houston.

Game two of the three-game series is slated for 6:00 pm PT, Saturday in Oakland.

National League

Gonzalez: 8 1/3 scoreless

Leading the NL East, the Washington Nationals finished the first half of the season on a high note, winning for the fifth time in seven games with a 10-5 victory over their closest pursuer, Atlanta, on Sunday.

Apparently, the four-day all-star break didn't hurt, as the Nationals opened the second half with a 5-0 shutout at Cincinnati.

Harper: 2 HR, 3 RBI

The Reds were stymied for 8 1/3 innings by Gio Gonzalez, who had his best outing of the season, giving up four hits and a pair of walks, striking out six. Improving to 8-4, Gonzalez is having a whale of a season, despite a lack of hitting support when he's on the mound. Six times this season, he's allowed one earned run or less and either took the loss or received no decision. Gonzalez has the third-best ERA in the NL, 2.66, and a 1.19 WHIP (11th).

On Friday, he had Bryce Harper to thank, as the all-star right fielder socked a pair of home runs (21, 22) scored three times and drove in three. Harper is tied with Joey Votto and Paul Goldschmidt with 68 RBI, third in the league behind Marcell Ozuna and Nolan Arenado, each with 70.

The Nationals retained their 9 1/2 game lead over Atlanta while the Reds dropped further behind in the NL Central, in last place, 10 1/2 games behind Milwaukee.

Game two of the four-game series is Saturday, 7:10 pm ET in Cincinnati.

Sonny Gray, Nate Freiman Lead A's Past Astros, 5-0; Matt Carpenter 4-for-5 as Cardinals Top Pirates in 12, 6-5

Players of the Day for Thursday, August 15, 2013

American League

Gray: 1st MLB Win

By no means are the A's going to allow Texas to run away from them in the AL West.

Nate Freiman

Sonny Gray threw eight scoreless innings to earn his first major league win and Nate Freiman went 4-for-4 at the plate as the A's topped the Astros, 5-0, cutting the Rangers' lead in the division to 1 1/2 games.

Gray (1-1) fanned nine, walked one and allowed just four hits, handing the ball over to reliever Dan Otero after throwing 118 pitches. Otero had an eventful ninth, giving up a hit and walking a batter, but allowed no runs.

Freiman doubled home a pair of runs in the first and stroked a two-run homer in the third inning, staking Gray to a healthy lead. He added a pair of singles later in the game and finished with four of the A's five RBI.

The A's win avoided a sweep by the Astros in the three-game series. Oakland 's home stand continues on Friday when they host the Cleveland Indians at 7:10 pm PDT.

National League

Matt Carpenter went 4-for-5 and scored the game winner when matt Holliday singled to center in the bottom of the 12th as the Cardinals won the finale of their series with Pittsburgh, 6-5.

Matt Carpenter

St. Louis won two of three at home to cut Pittsburgh's lead in the NL Central to two games. Cincinnati won their fifth straight, beating Milwaukee, 2-1, drawing to within 2 1/2 of the division lead.

Carpenter doubled, tripled, singled twice, scored two runs and drove in one, raising his batting average to .315, fifth-best in the National League.

St. Louis travels to Chicago to open a three-game series with the Cubs on Friday; the Pirates, losers of five of their last six, look to right the ship when they host the Diamondbacks for three games, beginning Friday.

Today's Trivia: In their legendary careers, who hit more doubles, Babe Ruth or Lou Gerhig? (answer tomorrow)

Yesterday's Answer: The NL single-season stolen base leader from 2005 through 2007 was Jose Reyes.